


Denying

by orphan_account



Category: Geri Halliwell - Fandom, Geri Horner - Fandom, Ginger Spice - Fandom, Melanie B - Fandom, Melanie Brown - Fandom, Meri - Fandom, Scary Spice - Fandom, Spice Girls, Spice World (1997)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-01-13 17:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18473248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: (SPICE GIRLS) Mel B and Geri in the wake of the bombshell...





	1. Chapter 1

Melanie finally found Mel’s dressing room and went in without knocking. She found the younger woman sitting alone in front of the mirror. The bottle of chilled white wine that must have been left on the dresser earlier by one of the production assistants, compliments from Piers, was in her hand. She was pouring herself a glass and guzzling down the contents with the attitude of someone who was used to harder stuff. 

 _Really?_ Melanie wanted to ask but refrained. Instead, she returned Mel’s slightly panicked smile and said, “Have you texted Geri?”

Mel shook her head and went for the bottle again before Melanie could stop her.

“Piers was looking for you. I think he’s coming over,” Melanie said.

Mel tossed back her drink, then sat up, straightening her back. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?” She asked.

Melanie nodded. It really wasn’t. Then again, it was Piers ‘Scum-of-the-Earth’ Morgan and he looked far too gleeful at the confirmation to expect that this would be treated with a modicum of respect. Already, she heard him brag that he was airing a clip of it on his breakfast show the next day.

Piers barged in later, all smiles, flanked on both sides by PAs. He asked how everybody was doing, his sharp-eyed gaze not missing the way Mel was downing wine like they were shots. Their good-humored exchange had an underlying tension of resentment and distrust on Mel’s side and narcissistic delight on Piers’ part.

Melanie just shook her head, muttering, “This is…going to be interesting.”

After Piers left, Mel shot Geri a text, "Hey, Geri. Just wanted you to know I admitted at Piers today that we had a little bit of a thing back in the day." Then, she showed the sent message to Melanie who nodded without saying a word. 

A minute and a half later, Geri texted back, "What exactly did you tell him?"

The Mels exchanged looks. "Nothing," Mel quickly typed. "Don't worry. It was all tongue-in-cheek. We had a good laugh about it."

Another half second passed and then: “OK. Safe trip tomorrow, darling x”

The silence that followed was pregnant with unasked questions. Mel locked her phone and slipped it into her handbag. It was not until a full minute passed before she finally spoke. “You could’ve said something back there.”

Melanie sighed. She was hardly surprised by the mild affront and, just like always, took it in stride. “I suppose,” she said. She thought at the time that saying something would have made matters worse. They all knew, of course. But it wasn’t her story to tell. It was Mel’s. And it was Geri’s. 

“On a scale of one to Geri not speaking to me again, how bad was it when I mentioned her husband and new lifestyle?”

Melanie considered it for a moment, then said, “It’s…bad.” Melanie would even venture so far as to place a bet Geri would overreact to this.  Especially if Geri intuited that Mel did it, even unconsciously, to get a rise out of her. 

Having witnessed for herself Geri’s recently acquired “airs,” Melanie could hardly blame Mel for taking pot shots at their friend. She was just begging for it, especially with that ‘Lady of the Manor’ magazine feature. It was not that they weren’t proud of what Geri had made of herself (they were always going to be proud of each other and what they have achieved individually) but Geri was always going to be that nutty friend they all laughed at. And for a long while, Geri was in on that joke. She never used to take herself so seriously. Which is why this new iteration of Geri Halliwell was so puzzling, especially to Mel B who probably knew her better than anyone. 

“Well, you’re bloody helpful,” Mel told her.

Melanie just lifted her shoulders. “Geri knew that question was going to be asked. She can’t be that surprised you answered,” she said. “And she knew what you thought about her, erm, lifestyle.”

Mel laughed. “Glad I’m leaving for the States tomorrow then.” At that moment, her assistant poked her head in through the door to tell her that her car was ready. Mel stood up, grabbing her handbag with her. She turned to Melanie and asked, “Do you need me to drop you off, or…?” 

“Thanks. I’m meeting a friend at a bar nearby.”

 

* * *

 

 

On her ride back home, Melanie C texted their WhatsApp Group: "Interesting bit of fun at Piers tonight!" 

Mel B was the first to reply: "Good laugh all around !! my face still aches from laughing so much" 

Mel C: "Watch GMB!"

Mel B: _typing…_

Emma: "I'm gonna!"

Geri: " Can't wait!! x"

Mel B: “ahhhh yippeeee!!!”

Vic:  _seen 10:02 p.m._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Mel’s call came in at around midnight. Melanie had just turned in for the night when she heard her phone vibrate. She reached for it but didn’t get up from her supine position. “Hello,” she said.

“Just got off a call from Geri,” Mel said without preamble.

Melanie blinked her eyes wide open and sat up. “Christ, how bad was it?” She reached for the night lamp and turned it on.

 “She was screaming on the phone.” 

An unbidden laugh bubbled up and Melanie had to suppress it. “That sounds really bad,” she said, then asked, “What was she screaming about?” 

“I don’t really know. I could hardly understand her. She sounded a bit bonkers.”

Melanie listened to Mel, noting how oddly composed she seemed. Normally, she would be just as riled up as Geri was, maybe even more so. The truth was Geri hardly lost her temper. At least, not in the way other people assumed of most redheads. She was out of a bottle and more self-contained than most people thought. But when she did lose her temper, and usually at Mel who had no filter, Mel was more than a match for her. Then, the two of them would go off on one of their sulks that could last anywhere from a few days to a few years. 

Geri used to say that Mel was a hypochondriac, that whatever any one of them had, Mel always had to have something worse. It was not even limited to illnesses. Mel treated everything like a competition. Especially when it came to Geri. Their whole dynamic was egging each other on, seeing how far each other could go with a joke or a prank before eventually crashing and burning. They’d crashed and burned far too many times for Melanie to count.

This time, however…this time was different. It was different because Geri was different. In the years they were apart, she had gone through some kind of paradigm shift. The surface change was easy to dismiss. Geri was always all about the look of a moment; she loved that kind of attention. What was unsettling was what was going on underneath. If Melanie had to put a finger on it, that was what was truly bothering Mel. That Geri had changed so much she might as well have thrown over the bucket containing all the treasures of their past and filled it up with ornaments and trinkets of the present.

It was yet another eye-opener. First, it was Victoria and now, Geri. In contemplation, Melanie may never truly understand the depth of what Mel and Geri had, but she could understand why Mel was acting the way she was. She and Geri were always the closest, were peas of the same pod. To see the other quite blatantly move on from that shared past must feel a lot like rejection. 

“I’m going to bed,” Mel said abruptly.

“Alright then,” she said, also settling back into bed, adding, “but do me a favor, Mel?”

Mel didn’t answer but stayed on the line nonetheless. 

“Don’t unfollow Geri on social media?” 

This drew a hoot of laughter from the other. “Ah, fuck off, Melanie!” 

Melanie cackled. “Love ya, too!”

 

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well I guess I'm writing this


	2. Chapter 2

After Mel hung up, Melanie counted to five, and sure enough her phone rang again. 

“Melanie, I hope I didn’t wake you.” Geri sounded a bit hoarse but not as distraught as Mel claimed. Just tired maybe, which was understandable considering the hour. “I guess you know why I’m calling.”

Beside her, Melanie felt Joe stir and murmur something before rolling to the other side of the bed, taking the covers with him. Melanie kept the phone pressed to her ear and turned slightly away in order not to disturb her sleeping partner. “Yeah, I was just talking to Mel actually,” she said.

“Oh.” Geri paused momentarily, and then: “How is she?”

“Upset, as you might have guessed.” Melanie could hear Geri pacing on the other line. 

“Piers called Janet last night for a comment.” Janet was her publicist. “Mel,” Geri began, “what exactly happened?” 

“There’s a transcript out, I think,” Melanie said. She didn’t want to put her spin on things. But then again, she didn’t need to. Geri would have probably gotten a copy of the transcript if Piers wanted a comment.

“Yes, I read it,” Geri said. She seemed to wait for Melanie to say something more.

“Piers was persistent,” Melanie said. He was a rude, manky arsemonger who knew exactly what he was doing. No one could have gotten out of that situation unscathed. Mel tried but, in the end, her book being called ‘Brutally Honest’ just made it easy for him.

“….Did she do it on purpose?” 

Melanie placed a palm over her eyes and pressed gently. In a way, she expected the question. For two people who were so similar in outlook and temperament, it was hardly surprising that Mel B and Geri were each other’s emotional trigger. Whatever one did that pertained to the other was bound to cause a reaction. Sometimes, Melanie wondered if it was because they idealized each other so much the minute they hear something contrariwise they tended to jump the gun. It was hilarious really, if it wasn’t so bloody annoying and disaffecting. 

“For what purpose exactly, Geri?” Melanie asked.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Geri said. 

“No, I don’t actually.”

“She’s been trying to humiliate me, Melanie,” Geri said. The inflection in her voice rose and fell with each word. “In interviews, in front of my staff, my friends, my family. Joking about my age, my habits and bringing up stuff no one wants or needs to remember. This is just one of those things for her, isn’t it? A big joke.”

“Geri, come on,” Melanie sighed. Because it wasn’t like they weren’t used to any of it by now. Mel B had always taken the mick out of people – _literally_ anyone, and had never apologized for it. Geri was just the target _du jour_ because of her new status that practically made her a sitting duck. Mel being Mel, she wouldn’t be able to resist. But the revelation itself was another matter. It threw Melanie for a loop because she thought Mel was saying one thing and acting another way. And she really didn’t want to read too much into it. 

“Just watch the clip on GMB tomorrow, Geri,” she said. Tired. She was tired. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was half past two and she had to be up at five tomorrow.

“I just don’t understand why she’s doing this.” There was a slight tremor in Geri’s speech. 

Melanie stomped down on the inappropriate laughter bubbling up as she realized Geri might actually start crying right then. Instead, she drew a long breath to compose herself and said as soberly as she could, “Geri, I think Mel’s the only person who can answer that.” 

Quiet on the other line. Melanie could almost hear the gears turning in Geri’s head as she went into overthinking mode. 

“I wish she’d tell me things,” Geri said after a moment.

“Yeah, me, too. Honestly, you two should tell each other things for once,” Melanie continued with a light laugh. She didn’t say ‘ _and stop bothering me_ ,’ but that was implied. “She’s upset right now and I can tell you’re upset as well. I heard some words have been exchanged?” 

Geri cleared her throat. 

“Give it a bit of time,” Melanie said, “then you two book a room and talk it out – or fuck it out, I don’t care.”

Geri made an outraged noise. It sounded like horrified laughter. “Melanie!” 

Melanie cackled then. “Sorry.” 

“That is a terrible joke!” 

“I know. Love ya, Ginge!” 

“Good night!”

Melanie was still chuckling softly when she replaced her phone on the bedside table. 

 

* * *

 

By morning, everybody in their team had been briefed. Modest’s main man hired to handle the band’s PR had set up a Skype videoconference for the Girls and their publicists to discuss the potential damage and what course of action to take. There was a debate on whether or not the story should be addressed directly but no final decision was made. Everybody, however, was in agreement that Mel, who was due to guest on an Australian radio podcast, should stick to the transcript of her Piers Morgan interview. 

“I really don’t see what the fuss is about,” Mel said. She was in a car on her way to the airport. Her daughter, Phoenix, was with her, earphones on and gazing out the window. “It’s not a big deal.” 

Melanie closed her eyes. It was really the wrong thing to say. She fully expected Geri’s response: 

“Maybe not for you.” 

And Mel’s next statement, delivered with humour but with a snide undertone, was hardly surprising either: 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Sensing tension, Melanie glanced at Emma but the latter was studiously examining her nails. She imagined Emma had been in talks with both Mel and Geri the night before just as she had been and, like her, was opting not to get in the middle of this. 

“It means exactly what it means, Melanie,” Geri continued. She was sitting in one of the airy rooms of her country mansion. Her publicist was with her as was her husband, who was back from Melbourne apparently. 

Melanie knew that Christian was heading out again in a couple of days so she could understand _why_ he was there, but his presence right now was really inconvenient. She hoped Geri could see that. 

“You’re always saying stuff without thinking things through,” Geri said. “Maybe it’s funny to you, but you do get off on seeing other people humiliated on national television.” 

“What,” Mel said. Her expression had darkened as the import of Geri’s words sunk in. “ _Humiliated_ on national television?” 

Geri did not answer; her vexation was obvious. Her husband said something to her but his voice was too low for the mic to pick up. Geri turned to him and they talked for a while, ignoring the rest of the people in the Skype conversation. 

As the minutes ticked, Melanie could feel Mel’s aggravation grow. Deciding that an aggravated Mel B and a teed off Geri were the last things this tour needed, she tried to diffuse the situation. “Okaaayyy,” she said with a forced laugh. “I think we’re getting a bit off track here. Come on, ladies, we have a tour to do.” She stared pointedly at Emma for assistance, and she thankfully chirped in this time. 

“Yeah, we should talk about the tour. Rehearsals are about to start.” 

“Officially on the eleventh, but I think we don’t have to go in until the fifteenth. Emma’s got promo for her new album. Mel has court in L.A.”

“Geri’s got a head start,” Emma said. 

When she heard her name, Geri turned back to the camera while her husband stood up and walked off screen, to Melanie’s relief. “Yeah,” she said. “This week with my trainer. Familiarizing myself with our old routines.” For the first time since the meeting was called this morning, she revealed a smile. 

“Good for you, Ginge.” 

“We’re at the airport,” Mel said later, cutting through the tour talk. She’d been non-participative for the past few minutes. Something in her tone of voice told Melanie that she was not in any way done with her issue with Geri but had decided to forego discussing it further. 

For now.

“I probably can’t make it on the fifteenth,” Mel revealed. “I’ll have to do part of the rehearsals in the States.”

That…was surprising. Melanie was not aware of that, and from the looks on Geri and Emma’s faces, neither were they. She started to open her mouth to say something but Geri beat her to it. 

“Oh, that’s real mature, Melanie,” she said. 

“Ehm,” Emma sounded as though in warning. Then, she said, “Do you think that’s a very good idea, Mel?” 

Ignoring Geri’s comment, Mel said to Emma, “Look, I’ll make sure I make it to most of the rehearsals and I’ll try to make it even before that. I just have to finish up some legal stuff – _grownup stuff,”_ she added, the jab obviously aimed at Geri, “and then I’ll be back and dance with all of you.”

Geri remained silent, staring at something off-screen.

Melanie glanced away from Geri and turned to Mel: “Can you at least check in with us on Skype while we’re in the studio?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll FaceTime,” Mel said, adding that she needed to hang up now as they had to go through the x-ray machines.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments and the kudos. I appreciate it. This is also uploaded on ffnet.
> 
> i'm writing this from melanie c's perspective because it's hard to get inside mel and geri's heads right now. melanie c is a stand-in for someone who knows what's going on beyond what the media is reporting. but i will be writing from mel and geri's perspective, too. i don't know if you'll enjoy this as this is not so much meri but more like me trying to process what's going on right now haha


	3. Chapter 3

" _What_ was _that?"_ was the foremost question on everybody's mind after Mel ended her video call. It was James, their PR man, who voiced it. He looked expectantly at the three band members who remained on Skype.

Geri was still distracted and didn't answer.

Emma just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "She did say before that she has court dates."

That was true. Melanie knew that as much. Mel might be sulking a little bit but she'd hardly jeopardize a tour that she'd been championing from the start. Besides, they'd already decided they weren't going to depart too far from, or change too much of, their choreography. And, though it annoyed her to admit it, Melanie Brown was the one who least needed to practice their old routines. Still, it was a slight deviation from their established work ethos. Not to mention it was going to look just plain weird for her to be absent on the first day of rehearsals.

The PR man seemed to agree. "It's going to look a bit strange when rehearsals start and she's not here."

"Have you decided what to do with the Piers Morgan story?" Janet, Geri's publicist, interjected.

There was a pause as the Girls looked at each other, and then James said, "Just what we agreed. Mel will stick to the script." He was about to move on but Janet stuck to her line.

"But we need to get all our stories straight."

Melanie choked back a laugh. "Pun intended?" She teased.

Emma let her jaw drop and started giggling.

Geri, who was fidgeting in her seat, turned bright red.

"I mean, we need to align our stories," Janet clarified, throwing a cautious glance at Geri, who was now struggling to compose herself in the face of her two giggling friends. "This narrative doesn't jive with Geri's new image now."

Right. The Lady of the Manor.

Geri's husband drifted back on the screen, showing hard eyes and a poker face on. When he rejoined her on the couch, Geri sat up and cleared her throat self-consciously. Jane was still talking about Geri's new image and how this was all a bit inconvenient.

"I'm staying out of it," Melanie said after a moment.

"Me, too," Emma rejoined.

"I think that's better. If it doesn't affect the tour, Modest will stay out of it," James said.

"Then nobody has any objection if we run our own strategy to deal with this?" Janet asked.

"As long as it doesn't affect the tour."

The conversation was being wrapped up when Melanie had a thought and quickly said, "Geri, are you going to check with Mel?"

"Oh, I've talked with her publicist," Janet said before Geri could answer. Geri was avoiding Melanie's gaze. "She's fine with whatever we want to do."

 

* * *

 

It was not until days later that Melanie learned how exactly Geri and her PR were dealing with the Piers Morgan interview. She was out with a friend when she heard talks about it. In hindsight, the outright denial shouldn't have surprised her. Geri had basically telegraphed her intention the night the whole thing blew up. She wondered how Mel was taking it though. Earlier that week, Janet made it seem like they'd been in discussions with Mel's team on how to handle the inevitable press about it. Yet, it was very odd for Mel to agree to this set up. Melanie supposed she'd hear more about it in the following days from the two people directly involved.

 

* * *

 

Breakfast had always been Emma's favourite meal of the day. She loved breakfast food: bacon, sausages, eggs, waffles, muffins, pancakes, beans, toast, fruit slices, the whole gamut. She loved food in general. But for the past five years, she rarely got to enjoy breakfast with her family and now she was making up for it and making the most of it as well. She was due to enter the promotional circuit very soon for the launch of her new album.

This morning, the kids were lying in and Emma and Jade were enjoying some alone time together. Jade had just asked Emma to pass him the lemon for his pancake when Geri called. Emma picked up the phone absently while handing Jade a saucer full of sugar-dusted lemon slices.

"Hi, my lovely, how are…" Emma stopped mid-sentence because Geri was moaning incoherently into the line about something that someone said in a magazine. Emma and Jade had long made it a habit not to have any rag mag in their household so they were not aware of what happened. Emma tried her best to calm Geri down enough so she could give a lucid account of what transpired.

"It's Melanie!" Geri said.

Emma didn't even need to ask which Melanie. Only one Melanie could make a complete mess of Geri like this. "What's she done?" Then she remembered, too late, the Piers Morgan interview and the whole PR mess that resulted from the denial stories. She'd not been paying much heed to the gossip.

Jade chose that moment to pipe up, "Oh, babe, did I tell you about Geri's Mother's Day statement about the Mel rumours?"

Emma quickly signaled to Jade, holding her fingers together to shut him up and pointing to the phone against her ear. "It's Geri!" She mouthed before speaking to the phone again, "Hang on, my love. I haven't been keeping up with much of the – I don't know anything. What's happened anyway?"

"She never said she wasn't okay with it," Geri was saying. "I told her what I was going to do. Now that I've released the statement, she got Danielle to say these things for her."

"What?" Emma was getting confused. Geri was going off on tangents and she was finding it hard to follow her train of thought. "Who – what's Danielle got to do with this?"

"She gave an interview and she said…she said we should invite Mel over for dinner!" Geri's words poured out in rapid succession. "And she was laughing about it because she said I've had worse things said about me. But Emma, it isn't about that. You know it isn't about that. And Mel knows. _She_ doesn't understand, doesn't know anything really, and now she's saying these things and suggesting threesomes and –"

Emma couldn't stop a giggle from coming out at that last bit. She quickly covered her mouth but too late because Geri heard it and her dignified outrage was palpable even through the phone.

"Don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry, darling, but what's this about threesomes?" Emma said, biting her tongue to keep from bursting out into uncontrollable giggles. Beside her, she could see Jade nearly drop a sugar cube.

"She's making it worse, Emma!"

"Wait, who's making it worse, love?"

"Danielle."

"I thought we were talking about Melanie."

"It's Melanie, and then it's Danielle."

"Uhm, okay," Emma tried to keep up. "And they've both said worse things about you?"

"No, the tabloids, Emma. Danielle said I've had – I've had worse things said about me, worse than what Mel said in the Piers Morgan interview."

 _'Well, she is not wrong there_ ,' Emma wanted to say but kept mum. Geri sounded like she was close to tears. Clearly, she was distressed. Emma felt a pang of sympathy for her friend. Geri was really not handling this well.

"Like that makes this okay," Geri went on. "It doesn't make any of this okay. I trusted her. And she went and told everybody, and now everybody's laughing at us."

"No one's laughing, Geri," Emma refuted gently.

Geri had always liked being in the spotlight but not to be laughed at. And she was sensitive of others' perception of her. She liked being liked. That was Geri's problem really. She cared too much about what people thought, always careful not to exclude anybody so that she always ended up overthinking things and then putting her foot in her mouth.

But she'd always been able to laugh at herself.

"They're laughing. They're all sniggering behind our backs and saying nasty things."

"Well, if they are, then you've surrounded yourself with the wrong people, love." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Emma realized that perhaps she'd said a bit too much.

Geri had gone quiet.

Emma bit her lip and glanced at Jade, who was calmly folding his pancake with the attitude of someone who'd seen and heard it all about and from the Spice Girls. Deciding to forge ahead, she asked the question she knew Geri didn't want to be asked, "Have you talked to Mel?"

There was a long pause, and then: "She hasn't answered my calls or texts."

"I see."

And there it was. Emma expected as much. It was typical of Mel to shut people out when she was mad. It was also typical of Geri to lose her mind when Mel did it to her. So that would partly explain the current hysterics then. Emma tried her best to reassure Geri that Mel would have to talk to her soon because they had rehearsals and the tour to do. "Besides, you know Mel better than any of us. If she's mad, then you know she'll sulk for a while."

"Everything alright?" Jade asked when the call finally ended.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Nothing to worry about." Emma picked up her cup of tea and took a sip.

 

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imagine spending all your new album promo time deflecting questions about your bandmates' one-time fling


	4. Chapter 4

Phoenix was Skyping with one of her buddies from the States when she heard the door to their suite open. She knew from a text that her mom was on her way back to their hotel after her interview with Piers Morgan in London Studios. “Hang on,” she told her friend on her laptop screen. She rose from the bed and crossed her room to the half-open door.

Her mom strode into view, cutting a yellow swathe as she walked past the doorway, removing her heels as she went. She, too, was talking on the phone. “’Hello, darling.’ Ever heard of that?” she mocked the person on the other line. She had reached the minibar and was now standing by it, staring at the liquor bottles absently. 

Phoenix opened the door to her room wider and leaned against the frame. This caused her figure to cast a shadow, alerting Mel to her presence. Mel glanced at her distractedly. Phoenix gave a little wave but Mel was still focused on the person she was talking to.

“Oh, what does it bloody matter?” Mel said with obvious agitation. She opened the door to the fridge with more force than necessary, causing a bottle to fall off the shelf and roll across the carpet. Mel didn’t even notice. 

Usually, when her mom was this perturbed, it had to do with her ex- stepfather. But from the conversation, and even Mel’s tone of voice, she knew it wasn’t Stephen. It was someone else. Deciding that it was none of her business, Phoenix was about to go back inside when she heard Mel snap, “Yes, it is my bloody story, too, Geri. Or did you forget you’ve been saying the same thing for years without my say so?”

Phoenix paused, then slowly turned back around. Curious. She knew Geri, of course. She was one of her mom’s best and oldest friends. The one who left. The one whom one very bad night years and years ago her mom couldn’t shut up about even after Stephen shouted at her and threatened to break something. Phoenix had been in Angel’s room then, holding both hands to her little sister’s ear while she’d kept her owns eyes shut, pleading for it all to stop. 

Growing up, Phoenix seldom heard her mom talk about her. Mel often talked about the others, but not Geri. As she grew older, Phoenix gathered that Mel and Geri had a complicated relationship. She wasn’t born yet when they broke up but everybody who knew them – really knew them – said that they were undeniably the closest. Her Dad  once said when Geri left the Spice Girls, it broke something in Mel that nobody had ever been able to fix. Phoenix didn’t know if that was true. She knew her mom was tough but sensitive and a lot of the feelings she had were hidden in plain sight.

“I never said it was anything!” Mel continued. She was shifting her weight from one leg to the other, unable to keep still.

Phoenix continued to listen, keeping her arms crossed across her chest.

“I said it happened once and we laughed about it, and you know that was a fucking lie, Geri.”

Phoenix raised her brows. _What was going on?_  

Mel suddenly let out a mirthless laugh. “Yeah, funny how you’re always drunk when it happens, isn’t it? Funny how you conveniently forget the next day and act like you didn’t come in my m –” Mel was cut off mid-sentence as the person on the other line said something loud enough for Phoenix to actually hear her voice, without however understanding the words.

In response, Mel exploded. “Well, what the fuck do you want from me?” 

There was a long silence, during which time Mel grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and twisted it open. She didn’t drink. Phoenix could see that her mom was moving her throat as though she was having difficulty speaking. 

“You really want to make me look like a liar then?” Mel savagely whispered.

There was a moment of silence.

Phoenix stepped forward and Mel turned slightly, realizing for the first time that she was still there. Her countenance changed. Not by much. It was subtle, like a mask falling into place. She let out a sigh just as Phoenix reached her side and put her arms around her waist.

“I said what I bloody said. It’s done,” Mel said. She placed a hand over Phoenix’s and squeezed. “Do whatever you want then.” 

Phoenix realized that her mom was trembling.

“I don’t give a damn,” she said before ending the call.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Christian Horner came home to a silent house. The housekeeper, accompanied by Geri’s small dogs, William and Daddy, met him at the door. Unlike the late Harry, the dogs were well-trained so while they were jumping around and wagging their tails furiously at the sight of him, they barely made a sound. All they managed were quiet yelps and low-keening whines. Christian petted them perfunctorily while the housekeeper told him that the kids were already asleep. It was very late. He went upstairs. His wife was sitting up in bed with her laptop open, her cellphone in hand. When she saw him, she got out of bed and came over to hug him. He could feel the tension in her body as he put his arms around her. 

“Everything alright?” He said. He leaned down to kiss his wife lightly on the lips. Then he turned away to shrug off his jacket and cross the room to their walk-in closet. His mind was elsewhere, replaying over and over everything that happened on the tracks in Melbourne. It had been a disappointing race for their team. 

“Did you hear anything on the news?” Geri asked. “On the flight back, I mean.”

“No,” he said. “Why, did anything happen?” He came out of the closet, dressed in his pajamas. 

Geri was sitting on the foot of the bed, her back straight and legs tight together. Her laptop and cellphone were scattered over the bed covers. “Christian,” she said. “I need to tell you something.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Geri sat in the kitchen in the darkness. It was quiet all around her, except for the hum of the refrigerator. Through the kitchen window, she could see the moonlight on the back garden, through the stand of ash trees.

She wondered if Christian would come down, but he didn’t. She got up and walked around, pacing. After a while, it occurred to her that she was hungry. She opened the refrigerator door, squinting in the light. It was stacked with baby food, juice containers, baby vitamins, bottles of formula. She poked among the stuff, looking for the chocolate cake she made the other day. 

She found it. A slice had been cut off, the part she and Bluebell had tried. _Bloody hell_ , she thought, and she ate the rest of the cake, standing there in her dressing gown, in the light of the refrigerator door. She was startled by her own reflection in the glass of the oven. ‘Lady of the Manor.’ 

 _Christ_ , she thought, _why did I ever think that rubbish was funny and would not be taken out of context?_

She put what remained of the cake back in and rubbed the crumbs off her hands. She didn’t think much about how much she’d eaten and the guilt she’d surely feel tomorrow. The wall clock said it was 11:15. Christian went to sleep early. Apparently, he wasn’t coming down to make up. He usually didn’t. It was her job to make up. She was the peacemaker. She opened a carton of juice and drank from it, then put it back on the wire shelf. She closed the door. Darkness again.

Her thoughts came back to what Christian said after she told him. _“We’ve been married three years. I deserve better than this,”_ he said. He was angry, she could sense it, but he gave away so little, it was difficult to gauge and navigate her way through it. He didn’t even shut her out, just completely withdrew into himself, without confronting or acknowledging what happened. It made Geri feel helpless and inept.

 _“She’s going to hate me for this because she’s all posh now in her country house and her husband,”_ Mel said. Bravado, she was all bravado. _“She’s going to kill me and so’s her husband. She’s not that posh now, is she?”_ And meanness. Utter meanness. 

Geri walked over to the sink, washed her hands and dried them on a dish towel. Having eaten a little, she wasn’t so angry anymore. Fatigue crept over her. She looked out the window and through the trees and saw the light of the lamp on the street outside. One of the things she liked about this house was that it was relatively isolated. It had some land around it. It was good for the children. Children should grow up with a place to run and play, where they could be free from worry, even for a little while.

 _“We were best friends. It just happened.”_  

Geri felt her eyes sting. She picked up her cellphone and pressed a number. Mel only answered on the fifth ring. 

“I want to know why you did it,” Geri said through the thickness she felt in her throat. 

“’Hello, darling.’ Ever heard of that?” Mel mocked.

 

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's...complicated


	5. Chapter 5

All eyes were on Mel as she entered the rehearsal studio. She had been snapped earlier arriving at Heathrow Airport so the paps knew she was coming. They’d been waiting for her across the street from the studio when her cab came up. She managed to avoid the cameras by hiding behind the added security that Modest hired weeks earlier as she stepped out of the cab and quickly docked inside the building’s entrance.  

It had been a hectic few weeks for her. While her team of lawyers had wrangled with Lorraine’s legal representatives to pin down a settlement amount for their case, she’d had to contend with an insane schedule of waking up very early to catch the Girls just after rehearsals on London time and then go on to train and rehearse on her own. Mel never minded the work. She thrived on physical activity and pushing her body to the limit. She didn’t mind putting in extra hours to keep in touch with the rest of the group either. Since the tour talks began, the four of them touched base on the regular through WhatsApp, Skype and FaceTime. Now with rehearsals underway it was part of their daily routine. These talks were short and focused on the business at hand. Little time for social niceties, in other words. They were friends but they were business partners, too, and there was a time for everything.

Mel had not had a one-on-one conversation with Geri since the night of her Piers Morgan interview.

A chorus of yells and ‘oh my gods’ greeted Mel as she posed at the entrance with her legs and arms spread wide. “Now then!” She said with a huge grin on her face and laughing her booming Northern laugh.

Emma was the first to come up and wrap Mel in a big hug. “My goodness, Mel, I love the hair!” She shrieked. 

Mel twirled her braid playfully and laughed. The others were congregating around her as if drawn to her energy. Melanie looked especially pleased as she moved in to embrace her.

“Ey up, love,” Mel said.

“Took your time, didn’t you?” Melanie said with a light laugh. 

“Eh, save the best for last is what they say.” 

“Good to see you, Mel,” Geri said, stepping from behind Melanie. She was smiling. 

Mel barely paused. She supposed that the other people in the studio were watching them, expecting some kind of confrontation between the two. The story had been all over the news after all. It even made it to the US celeb gossip. Although Mel had not been keeping up with all the latest spin to the story, she knew that it would eventually end up with the old, familiar angle that they were feuding and that it was threatening the tour. It was ridiculous but she was used to it by now. Was she resentful? Yes. Was it enough to stop her from doing her job? Of course, not. The issue she had with Geri now was beside the point. She’d always been able to separate the personal from the business side of things. Melanie and Emma, and to a certain extent Geri, knew that so, unlike the others, they knew exactly what to expect. 

Mel met Geri’s gaze, smirked and pulled her in for a hug. She could feel Geri try to force the tension out of her body as she returned the display.

“Alright, Geraldine?” She said when they parted. She saw before Geri ever opened her mouth that she wanted to say something more and, deciding she didn’t want to hear it, she pretended not to notice. She stepped away and greeted the dancers with her usual aplomb.

Oh, eventually she and Geri would have to talk, but not now and not in front of all these people. Geri and her baggage of emotions would just have to wait. 

Mel had met many of the dancers before and spoke with the ones who were going to dance in her team. A talented, young bunch with bright futures ahead of them, they stood in front of her now with big smiles on their faces, their excitement palpable. Mel was feeling excited, too. Finally, they were all together under one roof. She could hardly wait to start.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Alright now. See you all tomorrow!” 

It was evening by the time their tour choreographer, Paul, called it a day. They were able to squeeze in so much in just twelve hours, including a photo op that Modest arranged for PR and marketing. They’ve had plenty of practice in the meanwhile but seeing the choreography come together for the first time and being executed so well left everybody in a celebratory mood. 

Mel especially enjoyed working with her dancers. They were consummate professionals, the lot of them, but not above goofing around. She liked them so much she offered to treat them to tea that same night. When the others heard, they decided they wanted to join, and so it became a group thing.

While they were debating on where to go, Mel made off for the dressing room to change out of her training wear. She had just put on a fresh set of clothes when Geri came in. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, no doubt because she thought Mel was ignoring her. Not entirely for no reason but Mel had been more intent on getting everything down before she flew out again at the end of the week. If there was anything that annoyed Mel, it was being stuck on an emotional loop. She couldn’t be arsed. 

“Hey, Geri,” she said without turning. She shoved her sweaty clothes into her gym bag, sat down on a chair in front of the mirror spread over the whole wall and began fixing her hair and face. 

“Hey,” Geri said. 

The tone she used was familiar. Mel had often heard her use it in the past when they weren’t on good terms – a sort of wary, closed-off tone of voice that could easily become explosively reactive given the right provocation. In the past, there had never been a lack of provocation on Mel’s part. 

Mel watched Geri’s reflection as she moved across the room to the opposite end. The silence was uncomfortable but not unfamiliar. They’d been through this dance before. In this version, Geri had already made attempts to reach out and each time Mel had rebuffed them. This morning out there on the rehearsal floor was just the latest. Mel felt that they both had said all that they wanted to say on the matter and whatever Geri felt she needed to say now would just be belabouring the point.

It didn’t matter, she told herself not for the first time. None of it mattered. They had a tour to do. That was paramount. Everything else had to remain on the wayside. She was not in the mood to be sympathetic or generous. In the back of her mind, she was afraid of what they would say and of what it would do to this…. Friendship? They’d blurred the lines too much and too often. But it was still important. To Mel, at least. She didn’t know what Geri thought of it. 

Mel dropped her make-up brush. It clattered noisily on the table. She grabbed it and placed it back in its holder. When she looked up, she found Geri staring back at her through the mirror. 

Neither spoke.

Mel did not know for how long it lasted. She could see the two of them almost through the lens of a camera taking the whole scene in from a wide angle – her sitting on a chair, multi-colored braids tied back behind her; Geri standing with her hands crossed over her bag, feet together. Watching from this vantage point, Mel thought there was something supremely alone about these two people. 

Melanie and Emma soon came in, too busy chattering to each other to notice anything amiss.  Mel and Geri returned to whatever it was they had been doing. And then Mel picked up her bag, saying she’d wait for them outside, and moved away.

 -

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's the month of the tour! who's excited to see them on stage? who's excited for more drama? we want it all! popcorn at the ready


	6. Chapter 6

They moved things when they came, her visitors. They moved them without really asking, as though the house were theirs, as though they had every right to rearrange the furniture and the accents. Geri made no comment about it but she kept tabs.

The house belonged to her. She’d bought it after she had Bluebell. She had kept it even after she married Christian and the two of them bought a home in North London and the country estate near Banbury. It was the place she went to when she needed to be alone, when she felt overwhelmed or just felt nostalgic. She was there now because it was not yet the weekend, and the four walls of her Hertfordshire home was suddenly becoming claustrophobic.

“I don’t want to hear a bloody word of it in this household,” Christian had said a few days before he’d left for Bahrain. He had been addressing Janet but he might as well had meant the words for Geri.

Geri thought she understood where his anger came from. It came from a place of hurt. She never told him. It was a secret she’d kept all her life and he wasn’t a part of. Perhaps it stung him that it was a piece of her that he could never ever touch nor ever could fathom. She never entertained the thought that he might be ashamed of it.

The truth was none of them – Christian, her family, her friends – could ever truly understand what she had with the Girls, what she had with Mel. What people knew or suspected barely touched the tip of it. Everything else was subterranean and buried under piles and piles of trauma and bliss. (They were not whole people. They were pieces of each other glued together to resemble a shape.) It was not something she could explain either. The only thing Geri felt she could do now was to carry on. Fix what she could fix and do her damnedest to make everything alright again.

Her visitors were part of that. A PR team hastily assembled to deal with Mel’s admission. The Piers Morgan clip had already been aired on morning TV. Celebrity news channels everywhere replayed it. Clickbait articles splashed their names on headlines with gleeful abandon. The story was blogged about and tweeted about and mangled beyond recognition.

At any other time, Geri would have ignored all of it. Her disagreement with Mel about the way it came out, notwithstanding. She was no stranger to sensational press. She’d spent most of her life by now being in the media in some form or another. Her family, however, especially the new members of it, was not used to it or to the accompanying public scrutiny. The apprehension of suddenly being put under the microscope compounded their sense of helplessness. After all, they were never privy to this part of Geri’s life. It was something that they had no control over, so why should they be made to answer for it?

“It’s coarse and cheap,” Christian’s mother had said to her over the phone about the piece.

It was never a secret how much the woman disapproved of making a spectacle of oneself. Geri had had her clashes with her about this but for the most part they’d been able to make it work, for Christian’s sake and for the children. On this point, however, Geri was wont to agree with the old crone. Not necessarily in those terms, but at the end of the day, it was really nobody’s business to know. That Mel never cared to explain why she let it out now and to that man, of all people, when she knew exactly how he would treat something like this was what infuriated Geri.

Mel knew her best. She knew how much Geri had wanted this all her life, how hard she’d had to work for it. She also knew exactly which button to push to unravel it all and expose her. The gratuitous revelation and comments about her new lifestyle was just her doing that. Mel had been callous in the past, but she had never humiliated Geri like this.

“Even if she meant it in jest, it shouldn’t have been said,” Geri heard a friend say.

“I don’t think she did it on purpose, but it wasn't proper the way it came out,” another said.

As the day ran on, the truth became a twisted thing. And Geri learned that some people’s fury ran cold. After getting an assurance from Janet that the story would be handled, Christian obliged her with a couple of staged photos before packing his things and getting on a plane for the Bahrain Grand Prix. He didn’t tell Geri what to do; Janet would be the one to do that. Meanwhile, Mel had refused to answer any of Geri’s calls or texts. The last thing she said was that it wasn’t a big deal and she didn’t give a damn. That had actually hurt more than anything. But then Geri got her answer.

Because it didn’t matter, denial became a real option. There was no proof, just rumours. Some interviews where she’d been a bit candid but no names or any black-and-white confirmation. Mel had certainly never said anything about it prior to this, she who was honest to a fault yet whose truth somehow was always taken with a grain of salt.

What was the truth anyway? Surely what Mel said wasn’t the truth.

It wasn’t true that it happened once.

It wasn’t true that they talked about it.

It wasn’t true that they were just best friends and they laughed afterwards.

It wasn’t true that it wasn’t a big deal.

It wasn’t true. Any of it.

So, when Janet suggested to just deny the whole thing, Geri went along with it. It would fix everything and make everything alright. It wasn’t duplicitous. It was possible to be honest without being truthful.

There was a framed photograph in that room in her house that she had never moved and had not looked at in years. And yet, she knew exactly what it depicted down to the last detail. The image had been ingrained in her memory. It was a picture taken when she was twenty-three, a bit blurry and angled badly. She was wearing a black-and-white striped mini-dress, sitting on grass, sunlight pouring over her. Looking directly into the camera, eyes squinting as she beamed at the person holding it. The photographer’s thumb blocked most of the foreground.

(There was another photo from that day of the two of them. That one she kept in her home in Hertfordshire. It had been taken by her sister.)

Geri remembered that day like in a dream. In fragments. Her loud, open laugh. The way her hair curled into ringlets. The texture of her skin. The pulse of her. The deft movements of her hands. The way she spoke her name.

All of it was true. All of it belonged to memory. But her visitors knew nothing about it. To them, it was just a badly taken photograph that didn’t look like it belonged anywhere, certainly not in that room and not in the picture they were trying to take to go with Geri’s official statement. So, they reached for it to perhaps move it out of the way, but Geri stopped them.

“Don’t touch that,” she said.

“We’re just going to flip it down so it wouldn’t be on the frame.”

“Don’t.”

They looked at her, then at Janet, who was standing not far away.

“Geri, love, it’s just for a bit,” Janet said. “We just need to take a picture of you with the mantelpiece as background.”

“I change my mind. I don’t want any pictures taken.”

“Pardon?” Her visitors asked. They appeared resentful at this unforeseen restriction.

Janet took one look at Geri and turned to the visitors. “Can you give us a bit of privacy please?”

Geri waited until they were out the door before saying, “If they touch a single thing in this house, I’m going to tell them to pack it up and leave.”

They had no right. They had no right to touch her things with their grubby hands and rearrange them to suit their angle. Geri took a long shuddering breath and exhaled, leaning forward in her seat and covering her face with her hands.

“Geri, are you alright?”

Geri shook her head. She had no idea what she was doing. She thought she did. Everything that everyone ever said about their story poured over her and she could hardly breathe. The media’s frenzied excitement. The public’s jeering delight. The silent rebuke from her family. The Horners’ baffled disdain. The sniggering contempt of their social circle. And in the midst of it were Christian’s cold fury and Mel’s indifference. How did things come to this?

“Have you gotten through to Mel?” She said, straightening in her seat.

“I talked to her publicist.”

“That’s not what I asked. _Have_ you gotten through to Mel?”

“No, but her publicist said Mel doesn’t want to deal with it.”

“What the bloody hell does that mean?”

“She’s okay with it, Geri,” Janet said.

Geri paused. She could swear her heart had stuttered to a halt. Then she looked around the room. Her younger self in the framed picture on the mantelpiece stared back at her. It had been decades since Mel took that picture in her sister’s back garden. A different time. (There had been many different times in the past.) She knew that maybe those times were long past, that it was futile to hold on to the memories when she’d all but moved past everything else. Maybe it was time to consign this picture – indeed, this whole house, to nothing, but she would do this on a day when it was no longer important. She would break its spell in her own good time.

 

\- -


	7. Chapter 7

 “How long do you think they can keep this up?” Emma said to Melanie, who was down on the ground tying her shoelaces together.

 

“What do you mean?” Melanie said, straightening up to her full height. She was barely listening as she smoothed down the skirt of her tennis dress.

 

“They’re being weird.”

 

Melanie followed Emma’s gaze which was trained on Mel joking around with the film crew while an assistant stood behind her, trying to fix her hair. Standing a few feet away was Geri, engaged in deep conversation with the director for the TV advert. The two looked simultaneously like they were actively ignoring while being completely aware of each other.

 

Melanie let out a laugh and said, “Who knows with those bloody nutters.”

 

* * *

 

  

Four more weeks! Mel was beyond excited and roaring to start rehearsals together with everybody. Although one week of that had to be spent in L.A., which meant one week away from group rehearsals, Mel did not consider it a complete waste though as she spent almost every minute of it with her daughters.

 

After Mel finalized the sale of her house, her mum flew in from London to be with the kids while Mel finally went off for the final leg of rehearsals. She hit the ground running as soon as she arrived. Weekends were sacrificed as she aimed for mastery this time. While her dancing never failed, her vocals had not been up to par. She’d had to relearn breathing techniques and projection from a vocal coach to get her to performance level. Humidifiers and vocal steaming also helped. But even then, when they started singing practice, Melanie C had drawn her aside and told her point-blank to quit smoking. It was one of the few pleasures Mel had left in life but she’d agreed to give it up for the tour.

 

“It better work,” she said.

 

“That or voice rest.” From Melanie’s serious face, it was an ultimatum.

 

“That means no talking above a whisper,” Emma said, lightening the mood a little with her bright chirp.

 

Geri said nothing but made an abrupt turn, hiding what looked suspiciously like a smirk.

 

Mel narrowed her eyes as she stared at her back. Emma giggled then, prompting Mel to glance at her, swing her arm down and stomp her feet. “Ah, _hell_ no!”

 

All three erupted into laughter.  Of course, none of them believed Mel would be able to stand talking in whispers for even a second, but it was seldom that they got to tease Mel over anything. She was usually the one who did all the teasing.

 

“Fucking bitches,” Mel said mid-laugh.

 

As the date of their opening show drew closer, rehearsals grew longer and more intense. Twelve hours a day were the minimum time they spent perfecting the choreography and vocals. Because each was busy with other stuff, particularly Emma whose new album launch was well underway, they sometimes did not come into the studio at the same time, or even on the same day. Often, each Girl practiced with their own group of dancers (fancily referred to as ‘Houses’ for the tour) as a way to establish rapport and cement each of the Spice Girls’ DNA into their routines.

 

It was a lot of hard work and it was taking a toll on all of them. They were no longer twenty after all. But Mel would rather die than complain, especially since not even Geri, who was having the hardest time as usual, uttered a word of protest. That was a testament to the Spice Girls ethos and also Melanie’s constant half-joke, half-threat to whoop their asses if one of them fucked up on stage.

 

After taping their Walkers Crisps commercial, someone had the idea of declaring each day a specific Spice Girl day. Basically, everybody from the dancers to the production and sound crew would wear something to pay homage to the Spice Girl of the day.

 

First up was Mel, who had no idea and was taken completely by surprise when she walked into the studio that day to find everybody in various iterations of leopard print. She yelled. She laughed. She damned near cried; she was so touched. The previous night, she had stayed up all night, talking on Skype with her baby girl, trying to explain to her why she couldn’t come home yet or why she couldn’t bring her to England either. She’d been in talks with Stephen to let Madison fly in for a couple of their shows but he’d been making it hard and upsetting for Mel and the children. So, this simple but sweet gesture from the dancers and tour crew was just what she needed to get through the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

 

“Wha’d I tell ya?” Melanie said to her as the last notes of ‘Mama’ faded. They were two weeks deep into rehearsals with all four Girls present, fine-tuning everything from the dancing to the vocals.

 

“That was brilliant,” their music director said, putting his headphones down and clapping his hands.

 

The Mels, who were bookending Geri and Emma, exchanged grins before Melanie reached out and gave Mel’s arm a squeeze. Again, the gesture was sweet and simple enough but Mel found she had a lump in her throat nonetheless. To collect herself, Mel shook off Melanie’s uninvited but not unwelcome touch, adjusting the hood of the onesie she was wearing and jumping off the couch. “God, I’m dying for a smoke!” She said with her characteristic roar.

 

“It’s only been two weeks.”

 

“Two fucking weeks, Emma.”

 

Geri got up as well and walked towards the music director, not really paying attention to the banter.

 

“You know what they say about the early days of non-smoking?” Emma smiled sweetly at Mel. “You need a lot of….”

 

Mel laughed uproariously. “A lot of what?”

 

“Oh god.” Melanie rolled her eyes.

 

“Something to satisfy the mouth,” Emma said.

 

“What? Like gum or carrot sticks?”

 

“I was gonna say oral sex.”

 

“Close enough,” Melanie said, cackling from her seated position and not even batting an eyelash at Emma’s comment.

 

Mel’s laugh boomed as Emma burst into giggles.

 

Geri, who was standing a few feet away, paused long enough to look in Mel’s direction. Her brows were drawn together, apparently not privy to the joke. Still laughing, Mel caught her gaze, gave her a broad wink and stuck her tongue out. Geri grinned but kept talking to the music director, only glancing at Mel from time to time with an air of puzzlement and wonder.

 

It had been more than a month since the revelation. She and Geri had been talking but mostly about the tour, with Mel all too aware of the tension that seemed to grip the other woman whenever she was near. It was reminiscent of the old atmosphere around them right after they had one of their terrible spats with Geri wanting to make up and talk about feelings, which Mel always tried to avoid. It was funny because when Mel was younger, she’d loathed discussing feelings. Her family had taught her early on to deal with her problems herself and not bother people about them. Geri was the complete opposite in that she wanted to talk about everything, leaving no stone unturned. She had always been intense that way and sometimes a little too deep for Mel’s liking. It was a point of contention between them, among many others. She frankly drove her nuts, Ginger did. But she was also one of the most important people in her life.

 

Still was.

 

So, she’d have to talk to her soon, Mel thought to herself.

 

Goddammit.

 

* * *

 

 

“I know, baby. I missed you so much and I can’t wait to see you and kiss your whole face,” Mel said, making kissy faces at Madie on her phone, much to the girl’s disgust and to her mother’s amusement. “Now, go and get your nan on the phone. I want to talk to her.”

 

“Right. You’ve talked to the lawyers?” Andrea said, appearing on the screen.

 

“Mum, how many times do I have to tell you? Yes, I talked to the lawyers. Everything’s fine. I already paid for the tickets.”

 

“I just want to make sure.”

 

“It’s all good, so come and get your butts over here.”

 

“How have rehearsals been going?”

 

“Great. We got the choreography down, the singing…. The dancers are bloody amazing. Oh my god, they’re so good.”

 

Andrea looked unimpressed. “The dancers?”

 

Mel took one look at her face and broke into a sheepish grin. “Oh, for god’s sake, Mum!”

 

“I didn’t say anything,” Andrea said.

 

“No, but you’re thinking it.” Mel laughed awkwardly. “And no! They’re Phoenix’s age, for fuck’s sake!”

 

“Don’t swear at your mother, Melanie.” After a beat, Andrea sighed. “You’re my daughter and I know you. Just…be careful, love. Anyway,” Andrea said, abruptly changing the subject, “how are you and Geri getting along these days?”

 

Mel rolled her eyes. “What are we, twelve?”

 

Andrea said nothing.

 

“Me and Geri, we’re good.”

 

“Did you talk?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Melanie….”

 

“Mum, we’re talking about Geri here. We talk. Or rather, she does. She doesn’t shut up for a minute, does she?”

 

This drew a snicker from Mel’s mum.

 

“But yeah, I’m going to talk to her about it,” Mel said, rubbing her cheek with the palm of her hand before raking her hair back with her fingers. “I’ve been pushing it off a bit but I think it’s time. She’s been asking me to come for dinner since forever. I’m just gonna blow her up at her house one of these days. Get it all sorted.”

 

 

 

 -


End file.
